The present invention pertains to track-laying crawler vehicles, and more particularly, to means for compensating for a change in tension on the vehicle track caused by debris on an inner portion of the track.
Track-laying crawler vehicles, such as crawler cranes each use a pair of endless tracks which provide a large area of support contact with the terrain so the vehicles can be used on relatively soft ground. The tracks comprise a series of segments or shoes pivotally interconnected by a plurality of pivot pins mounted in bushings in the shoes. Each of the tracks is trained around a drive sprocket wheel, an idler sprocket wheel and a plurality of road wheels with the drive sprocket wheel at one end of the vehicle and the idler sprocket wheel at the other end of the vehicle. Tension on the track is varied by adjusting the distance between the drive wheel and the idler wheel. When debris is picked up by the track and moved between the wheels and the inside of the track, tension on the track can increase causing increased stain and wear on pivot pins, bushings, wheel bearings and vehicle suspension.